


Alone

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Head Injury, Season 7 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 14:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15973907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Keith's head injury after the robeast attack on earth affects his thinking, and he's never felt lonelier.





	Alone

Keith snapped his eyes open, immediately going into full panic mode. The lions- the exploding robeast- everything- what- ow- his head _hurt_.

“Good morning, paladin!”

Keith turned his head to see a nurse smiling at him. “Huh? Where-?”

“Garrison,” she told him, setting down a tray with breakfast on a bedside table.

Keith’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What am I doing here? I got kicked out!”

The nurse blinked in confusion. “Um… You came back? You’ve been working with us? The robeast showed up, and- are you feeling alright, paladin? You took a pretty bad blow to the head. We didn’t want to risk painkillers- with your half-Galra DNA, we weren’t sure that they wouldn’t have any unwanted side effects.”

“You know- what am I doing here?!”

“You’re recovering from the explosion.”

“Where are the other paladins?! What have you done with them?!”

“They’re fine,” the nurse soothed, “They’re in separate rooms, all with their families. They’re also recovering from the explosion.”

Keith shook his head slightly. There was something missing. “Where’s Shiro?!”

The nurse smiled gently. “Takeshi Shirogane is giving a speech in a memorial service for those lost in the war against-”

Keith sat bolt upright. “You’re lying! Why am I here? Did admiral Sanda order this?”

“Admiral Sanda died in the battle, paladin. You know that.”

Keith swung his legs over the side of the bed. “That doesn’t mean that she didn’t give orders concerning me. I’m asking one last time, why am I here?”

“Keith, please. You need to take it easy. You took a blow to the head. You need rest. That’s why you’re here. Now please, lie back down. I need to check on your head wound and test your blood pressure. We’re running tests on your blood to see if our painkillers are harmful to you, but-”

“I knew it! You want to test me because I’m half-Galra!”

The nurse attempted to gently push him down. “Keith, please. We’re not trying to hurt you.”

“Like hell you’re not,” Keith snarled, shoving her off. He sprang out of the bed, backing towards the door. “What did you tell the other paladins? Told them that I died so you could run your tests in peace? Carrying out Admiral Sanda’s final wish? She never liked me.”

“Keith, you’re confused, which is perfectly normal with head wounds. We’re just trying to help.”

Keith saw her surreptitiously push a button that he knew would call security. He had to get out of here. Fast.

“Keith,” she tried again, “I’ve called a couple of doctors. They’re coming here, and they’re going to help you. We just want to get you healthy again. Just wait here for them, okay?”

Keith shook his head, backing out the door and bolting for it. His head throbbed as he ran, and he rounded a corner far too fast, slamming into a table with flowers on it, sending the whole vase toppling to the ground. The resounding crash would bring people to the sight, he knew.

“Keith? Are you okay?”

Keith turned around to see one of his old instructors. The man had always been nice enough, but all Keith saw was an enemy, ready to take him back. He didn’t know what they’d do to him, but he knew it wouldn’t be good. How could it be? He was the only Galra they had in captivity; they’d want to know how to defend themselves from the conquering race in the future.

He backed away, turning and sprinting towards the door. He heard the instructor call for help, and he gulped. He was a half-Galra who was unarmed and injured in the middle of the Garrison, which was full of armed personnel, trained fighters who had a year of pent-up anti-Galra tension behind them. If he didn’t make it out soon, he wouldn’t make it out at all.

He crashed out a window, running across the burning-hot pavement to where he could see Shiro, giving a memorial service. So that part hadn’t been a lie. He attempted to hop the little barrier fence they’d set up, but his head got suddenly dizzy, and he fell off, smacking his head on the fence and landing hard on the ground, dry-heaving as the pain in his head intensified. His vison wavered. The heat plus the concussion was making it hard to think.

A guard came towards him. “Hey, if you want to get in, just go through the gate,” she called kindly. Her face switched to concerned. “Hey, are you okay?”

Keith staggered to his feet, one hand on the fence for balance. He couldn’t let the guard get too close to him. He had to get to Shiro.

But she was coming closer nonetheless. “Did you hit your head? Here, hold on, let me help you.”

“Get away,” he panted, “Get away from me!”

She held her hands up. “Hey, it’s okay. War’s over. Nobody’s going to hurt you anymore.” Then her face changed again. “Wait, you’re the black paladin! Hey, aren’t you supposed to be recovering?”

Keith hopped the fence, successfully this time, running towards the stage where Shiro was. “Shiro!”

A couple of guards chased after him, and the people around him gave him disapproving glares. But he was used to that. He doggedly avoided the guards, finally coming to the edge of the stage. “Shiro!”

Shiro looked away from the podium. “Keith? What are you doing here?”

The guards finally caught up to him, grabbing his arms gently but firmly. “Come on, paladin.”

Keith yanked against them. “Shiro! Shiro, help!”

Shiro jumped off of the stage, landing neatly in front of them. “What’s going on?”

“He ran from the hospital,” one of the guards said exasperatedly, “Can’t say we weren’t expecting it, but still.”

“Let him go.”

The guards released Keith.

“Shiro, I-”

“What’s wrong, Keith?”

Keith felt a deep desire down in his heart to just sit back and let Shiro take care of everything. To just let his big brother fix everything.

“I- I thought…”

“What did you think, Keith?”

Keith felt his confidence begin to falter. “I thought that the Garrison…”

Shiro smiled at him. “They’re our allies, Keith. We can trust them. You need to get some rest. You took a bad blow to the head.”

Keith’s blood chilled. “Shiro…?”

Shiro’s brow creased. “Is something wrong?”

Keith backed away. “You’re with them? You’d help them?”

Shiro blinked. “Help them with what?”

“You’re one of them!”

Keith kept backing away, but now he was seeing his error in coming here. He was surrounded by Garrison members, all of whom could grab him at any time.

And in fact, one of the guards _did_ grab him, seizing his wrist in a gentle hold. “Come on, paladin. You need to go back to bed.”

Keith’s vision swam, trying to take in Shiro’s betrayal. “No!” He yanked at the guard, trying to pull free to no avail. “No!”

“Keith, please!” Shiro pleaded, “Just let them take care of you. We’re trying to help you, Keith.”

A doctor approached. “Paladin, please, calm down. If you agitate yourself too much, you’ll get hurt.”

Keith continued thrashing, but as he’d seen, there were far too many Garrison members around to try anything. And, he saw, heart sinking, members of the Voltron coalition were standing by watching. Not helping him, just watching him with pity.

His head throbbed suddenly, and he dry-heaved again. Someone was gripping his arms, making sure that he didn’t fall- or maybe making sure that he couldn’t run.

Shiro approached him sadly. “Keith, please.”

“I- I thought you wouldn’t give up on me,” Keith stammered, “I thought- but you-”

“We’re trying to help you, Keith. We really are.”

A doctor approached with a syringe. “Easy, paladin.”

Shiro gave the needle a sorrowful look. “Is that really necessary?”

“Afraid so, Captain. He might hurt himself.”

“Shiro- Shiro, no! Shiro- what is that?! Shiro!”

“It’s just something to help you sleep, I promise. I’m sorry, Keith.”

One of the Garrison members held Keith’s head still, and the needle slid into his artery, plunging the syringe’s contents into his bloodstream. Movement got harder, and Keith’s eyes drifted shut against his will. He slumped, and his eye caught on the black lion.

_Why… Black…?_

Xxx

“Is he okay?”

“-heard he ran off-”

“- _knew_ we should’ve had someone here with him-”

“-remember after the vlogs-”

“-probably thought we’d left him-”

“-poor boy-”

Keith heard voices outside of the blackness that surrounded him. Why…? He struggled to move, to let the voices know he could hear them, and he managed to make his little finger twitch.

“Hey, he moved!”

“You think he’s waking up?”

“Keith,” a British voice asked, “Are you alright?”

Keith forced his eyes open slowly, blinking. He was in bed. Wait. This gave him a sense of déjà vu. Allura was leaning down near him.

“Hello! You’re awake now! I apologize that we couldn’t be here sooner, but the hospital hadn’t released us yet. Apparently you gave them a bit of a scare.”

“…ow…”

Pidge winced. “Yeah, ow is right. You slammed your head pretty hard. The doctors said you were really confused when you woke up. They had to sedate you.”

Keith blinked. He kind of remembered that. Maybe? No? he remembered being scared, but that had been because the ship had been crashing, and- he bolted upright. “Shiro! Sendak- the ship- wait-”

“You saved him,” Hunk soothed, “We got him back, and he’s A-Okay.”

“Where is he?”

“He had to take care of some official Garrison business,” Lance explained, “He’ll be back soon.”

“Oh. Wait- we’re in the Garrison?”

Romelle nodded patiently. “We have been.”

Keith blinked. “But- they kicked me out.”

“Yeah, but then we kind of saved the earth, remember?” Lance asked him, “They overlooked whatever you did.”

“Wait- Admiral Sanda! She-”

Pidge sighed. “She died, Keith. The nurses told us that you might have some memory loss. Your head got banged up pretty badly. Do you remember what happened last time you woke up?”

“Um… I- I remember Shiro’s speech- and- ugh- I don’t know.” Keith rubbed the bandage on his head. “Was it bad?”

Lance winced. “Apparently, you ran out of the hospital, jumped the memorial service fence and ran up to the stage. Then you thought that Shiro was betraying you, so you attempted to run away, and they had to sedate you to get you back in the hospital.”

“Oh.” Keith vaguely remembered that. He winced. He’d said some harsh things out there.

“We wouldn’t betray you or leave you, Keith,” Allura said gently, “You understand that, right?”

“Y-yeah.”

The door opened, and Shiro hovered awkwardly in the doorway. “Um…”

Everybody exchanged glances, then filed out. Lance patted Shiro on the shoulder as he passed. “All yours, captain.”

Shiro sat down in a chair next to Keith’s bed. “Hi. Um. How’s your head?”

Keith made an explosion gesture with his hands. “Pretty messed up.”

“Oh.” Shiro fidgeted awkwardly, staring at his shoes.

“I shouldn’t have said it.”

“What?”

“I shouldn’t have said all of that. Any of it. I- I don’t- I don’t really think those things. I just- I was confused, and- and scared.”

The ghost of a smile flitted across Shiro’s face. “Wow. Must take a lot to admit that.”

Keith smiled briefly himself. “Hunk and I have been working on it. But- anyway- point being- You’ve always been there for me, Shiro. All of the time. You’ve never given up on me- ever. I just wanted to say… I should’ve trusted you more.”

“Keith, it’s okay. Your head-”

“My head can’t just be an excuse, Shiro. The only reason those thoughts were in my head is because they were doubts that I’d already had. When I’ve got my head on straight, I can push them away. But- I still think them. And- I shouldn’t. It’s just… I’m so scared that- that-”

“That I’ll leave you,” Shiro said gently, “That I’ll abandon you.”

Keith looked at his hands, clenched on the hospital bed blanket, fighting back tears. “I’m sorry, Shiro. I’m- I’m sorry.”

“Hey.”

Keith looked up at Shiro. He was smiling.

“I know. You don’t have to apologize. And I won’t leave.” He held out a hand. “Brothers, right?”

Keith took the hand. “Brothers.”

Shiro pulled him into a hug, clasping him tightly. A throat cleared in the doorway, and they broke apart, looking in surprise at Kolivan and Krolia.

“I’m sorry we’re late,” Krolia said apologetically, “But- hey, there, Keith.” She dropped her blade on Keith’s lap. “I believe I promised to bring this back in person.”

Keith’s face broke into a grin. “Hey, Mom.”

Krolia’s face also cracked, and she smiled at her son, sitting on the end of his bed. “It’s good to see you again.” She caught Shiro’s sleeve as he attempted to slink out. “Hey, don’t go anywhere. I want to know _everything_.”

Shiro and Keith exchanged glances. “That might take a while.”

She settled further on the bed, and Kolivan sat on the window seat. “Great. I can’t wait to hear it.”

Shiro glanced at Keith and shrugged. “Better get started.”


End file.
